Chapter 72


    -Ignatius


    Finding the Tally’s newest campout had been easy enough. They had grown in numbers drastically and


    they were much less inconspicuous because of it


    We traced their movements from where Angie had captured the infected shifter and eventually


    stumbled upon their new camp. They were ufortably close to Bielke territory, nestled deep in the


    forest they had set up camp just south of our borders.


    Staying unnoticed was where the first problem arose. My team and I had traveled with as many


    masking leaves as we could carry and had to repeatedly coat ourselves in the powdery substance so


    as to keep our scent hidden from the soldiers who


    moved about the forest


    We kept an eye on them from afar at first, scoping out their setup and trying to pinpoint exactly where


    they were performing the magic rituals.


    It was just like Angie had described. Shifters loped all over the area, big and bulky and inhumanly


    strong. The forest reeked of the scent of decay and a cloud of smoke hung low over the area from


    where constant fires were kept burning.


    A single white van was parked just past the tree line on an abandoned dirt road. We watched in disgust


    as shifters threw open the doors and dragged bodies from the interior, hauling them through the woods


    and dumping them inside of another dirty tent..


    If that wasn’t rming enough, after a day of watching that specific tent, those same bodies walked


    themselves out of the canvas folds and sat down around the giant fire pits. They were most definitely


    not alive, no souls resided behind those ssy eyes


    But they were moving all the sune, all in perfect unison as if controlled by some unseen puppet master.


    Tor had kept up his suspicious growling throughout the mission, his animal instincts warning the both of


    us that whatever was going on in front of our eyes was in no way natural and most likely dangerous


    “They’re not like the other shifters, Carly, one of the soldiers who apanied us had whispered to me


    from our hiding ce among the trees. “The others have a mind of their own, these are just dolls.


    Walking corpses”


    “Nec romancy, most likely,” I had whispered back. I had seen this phenomenon once before. Although


    the memories of that moment were clouded in fog and suppressed by the most primal parts of my


    mind.


    It wasn’t that the corpses, most likely victims from other small packs that had been disappearing all


    over the country, had been brought back to life. They were merely being puppetized by a single wielder


    of dark magic. Most likely the same magic wielder who was feeding witch blood to the other soldiers


    We were yet to discover this enigmatic leader of the Tally. Despite our constant watch, she hadn’t made


    an appearance just


    jet


    “To the left, Carly warned, keeping her voice low as a beefy shifter ambled into the woods nearby. He


    hadn’t noticed us yet but it was a little too close forfort all the same.


    “Let’s go


    Carly followed me as we melted away into the shadows of the forest and met up with the rest of our


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    members. 1 had been wary of some of mypanions, all handpicked by Angie herself.


    still unsure of who exactly we could trust, but each of them had proven their loyalty and capability over


    the past few days. Specifically Carly and her mate, Will.


    The two of them had been able to get close enough to the camp to identify at least three authority


    figures of the group and had been the ones to track down the ominous white van thaty beyond the


    forest.


    Carly was a tall willowy woman v


    for stealthy missions and Will, with his dark skin and ck wardrobe that


    rivaled my own, was able to travel through the woods like a shadow, leaving no trace and making no


    sound.


    Many a tinte I had spun around at an ufortable sensation on the back of my neck only to fad Will


    traveling directly behind me,pletely unaware that I had no idea he was there Carly was the only


    one who seemed to be able to sense her mate no matter how steally he could be


    It was those two who reported to me that same night of the woll shifter that was shackled to a post


    some way off, near a tent of one of the authoritarian leaders.


    Curious as to why the Tally would keep one captive alive. I followed them to where they had spotted the


    wolf. I wondered if it could be the same captive that Angie and Far had seen being removed from the


    white van some werks before.


    We peered through the trees and I followed Carly’s pointing uger to where a single lonesome scoll was


    straining against the Large silver shacklestcheil around his neck.


    “Maybe it’s just a regr woll! I suggested but Will shook his head.


    “From the way it’s been acting 1 highly douls it. There’s emotional intelligence there. He wants to get


    away. And from the look of the fur around his neck. I would say he’s been held captly here for a while.”


    I looked closely at the wolf and the band of raw skin around his neck where the cor had rubbed his


    far away. He looked underted too, his hip bones protruded a little too noticeably and hissts of energy


    were followed by moments of fatigue


    ami exluustiMEL


    We should tree ham. Carly whispered as we all examined the creature from afar. He could be a useful


    source of anfermation.


    “We can’t” as much as it pained me to say it. Leould see no way of going about rescuing the poor guy


    without alerting the Tally to an enemy presence in their camp. “They would notice bis absence and


    immediately be on high alert,”


    “We can’t just leave him there,” Carly protested, raising her voor in a whisper Poor f ucker is gonna


    starve to death.”


    I pondered the situation for a moment. “Maylic if we can make a look like he got away on his own.


    Leave a scent fr. leading off somewhere and then mask him and bring him back to our base.


    Will and Carly exchanged nces and Will shrugged his broad shoulders. “It’s worth a shot. How


    exactly do we free him


    though?


    Well, he’s skinny, isn’t he? We nick his skin, get some blood and fur on the silver cor and let them


    think that he got desperate and pulled himself free”


    “And how exactly do you n to get the cor off of him? We need the key“


    “Simple” 1 tipped my chin towards the rustling tent where arge muscled woman emerged from.


    Around her neck swung a single silver key suspended on a piece of string “We just take it


    -to


    Thad no idea how long I held been held captive by the odd Tally Pack. All I knew was that after being


    captured they had transferred me to their campout at the foot of a hill, only to shove me back into that


    horrific van a few dayster to cart me out into the woods.


    Finally. Thad found myself cord and shackled to a post outside the tent of a particrly frightening-


    looking woman who had uprooted an entire tree with her bare hands in order to set up her test.


    1 assumed the must have been someone important considering how the others seemed to treat her


    with a bit of respect. Day after day at unde at my post. And me, the forest had untially been full of life


    and the sound of my creases rustling. an the brush was carried to my cars by the slightest breeze,


    The longer the Tally rendest there, however, the deader the forest became All of the creatures left the


    area as if sp ooked by the Tally’s unnatural energy At night the losest was deathly sale


    The suffocating smoke of the constantly lit fires clouded the treetops and blocked out the moonlight


    entirely. That seemed to bother Ren the most. Ren hated confinement, small spaces. She hated being


    unable to see the sky.


    And so we sat, day in and day out, tugging and twisting at the cor around our necks until the skin


    was raw and tender.


    I


    And we were hungry. So, so hungry. The Tally themselves barely seemed to eat at all, I assumed it had


    something to do with their inhuman bodies..


    They seemed to eat only for pleasure and not for any real nutritional gain. I wished them horrible


    stomach aches and bad. indigestion every time I noticed one of them snacking nearby


    The other shifters, however, the ones who sat around the fires day in and day out, were very clearly


    corpses who had no need for food at all


    I was very close to bing a corpse myself if they refused to ferd me. Wolves canst longer without


    food than humans can, but even in my wolf form and even with Ren’s strong spirit, I could feel our


    strength fading away day by day.


    I would do almost anything for a bite of something. I would do almost anything for freedom.


    I was shaken from my thoughts by the sound of therge woman stirring in her tent. She threw open


    the curtain and waltzed out without casting me so much as a nce before heading towards the main


    camp. I growled at her like I did every morning but still she paid me no mind.


    I had just turned my head away to go back to my useless tugging at my chains when I heard frantic


    shuffling and the woman’s gruff remark. “Who ar” Before a loud thump and then silence.


    Spinning around I came face to face with three shifters I had never seen before, all crouching over the


    buffdy who nowy fat on her face on the forest floor.


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